I Love Food

[sly-salkie.livejournal.com]

I moved to the area about three weeks ago, just in time for the closing of Verna's Donuts right next door to me, apparently. I don't even remember if there are foods other than donuts to eat for breakfast. Meanwhile, I miss Whole Foods being closeby. Can anyone recommend a place or places to get organic food, good meat, good produce, etc.? I'm not a big fan of Shaws but I'll go if I have to. Thanks!

Comments

[countlibras.livejournal.com]

Whole Foods isn't that far away from Davis sq. There's one in Fresh Pond (on rt 16) and two in Central Sq (on River St and Prospect, I think).

I'm not a donut person, but there are other good places from bruch/breakfast. Johnny D's does a great brunch on the weekends. Although I haven't had breakfast there, the food at the Grand Prix in North Cambridge (near Davis Sq too) has very good food.

[fanw.livejournal.com]

Or you can walk to Pemberton farms. It's on Mass Ave just outside of Davis Sq. They have lots of organic stuff, though it's definitely a smaller store. Don't be fooled by the looks of the outside! It's not a plant nursery!

[ron_newman]

they're closed already? I thought they were staying open until the end of the year. I had fully intended to go there tomorrow morning.

[sly-salkie.livejournal.com]

no, they're still open til new years. enjoy! and be prepared for a line.

[ron_newman]

they're normally closed on Sunday, though. So what is the actual last day?

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

That place was all of 4 houses away from me, so that makes me very sad. The closest other donut place, FYI, is Dunkin' Donuts about 4 or 5 blocks north on Mass Ave (about a block past Cambridge House of Pizza.)

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

Harvest Co-op in Central is a full grocery store with all of those things, plus a bulk aisle where you can get all kinds of things (different kinds of flour, sugar, nuts, granola, spices, honey, cooking oils...) for a much less than the prepackaged kind.

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

I second the suggestion of Harvest... Even on a really tight student budget, they have some great stuff (and a lot of the bulk stuff is cheaper than the cheapest stuff at Star/Shaws).

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

I second Harvest and Pemberton. Johnny D's I'm really not such a fan of; a friend of mine swears by it, but I've never had a good experience there. My brunch place is The Neighborhood in Union - not far at all from Davis, on Bow Street. Amazing food, and they give you a ton of it. I've yet to go there where I didn't take at least half my food home and eat it for the next day or two. SOOOO GOODDDD....

[rollzroix.livejournal.com]

I'm probably outvoted in this community (judging by the long lines of twenty-something davis sq. hipster types I see outside of this place every Saturday and Sunday morning), but I have been to the Neighborhood Restaurant 3 times, and I'll never go again. EVERY time everything that I've eaten there - save for the quite tasty cream of wheat - has been HORRIBLE. I've had better coffee at gas stations at three in the afternoon. Three strikes and they're out for me. The portions are quite generous, but to me it's very much quantity over quality.

I don't go to breakfast as much as I used to, but when I do I like S&S in Inman Square or Sound Bites in Ball Square.

(To show I'm not all negative here, I do recommend Harvest Coop as well!)

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you had such negative experiences there. To be honest, their egg dishes tend not to be the best, but any of their pancake/french toast-type things are phenomenal. Oddly enough, the experience you have with the Neighborhood is the experience I've had at Johnny D's. They're always out of what I order, and they would always tell me after everyone else's food had arrived. Things kept showing up cold as well. Very annoying.

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Wild Oats on Rt 16 in Medford, and the magnificent muffin place in Teele Square.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

For breakfast, some walkable choices:

SoundBites in Ball Sq.
The Broken Yolk on College Ave.
Kelly's Diner in Ball Sq.
Rene's on Holland just short of Teele
Johnny D's on Holland
Rosebud on Elm
Mike's on Elm @ Highland

There are more, but I'm forgetting...

[ron_newman]

Mike's doesn't serve breakfast anymore. They told me that a few weeks ago.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

No loss, their breakfasts were pretty vile (but I find their lunch/dinner food is okay).

[jwinter.livejournal.com]

Tu y Yo's breakfasts are awesome.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Tu Y Yo and SoundBites, oh my yes.

http://www.tuyyomexicanfonda.com/breakfast.html <-- to inspire drooling

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Depending on what you mean by breakfast, possibly True Grounds in Ball Square counts--they have very good breakfast sandwiches.

Also, does the Blue Shirt Cafe still do breakfast?

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

for produce and general groceries, market basket, on somerville ave. a little past shaw's. don't ever go to shaw's, go here instead. it is so much cheaper and the produce is fresher (don't be fooled that it looks a little ghetto while shaw's looks bright and flashy). except it is very crowded.

they are not specifically organic/hippie but they do have some organic stuff and an impressive amount of "ethnic" foods. i buy most of my stuff there, and then if i want something special that i can't get, i go to whole foods or trader joe's.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

LOL...jinx!

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

I second this as well... Market Basket has surprisingly good produce, and I was overjoyed to learn that they also carry Quahogs (a large clam that I grew up with in RI, but didn't think I could get in MA).

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

For inexpensive groceries, try Market Basket on Somerville Ave near Union. Their produce is excellent. I'm a vegetarian, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if their meat is excellent too. Just do yourself a favor and don't ever go there on a weekend, or a weekday after 5pm. It's always mobbed because everyone knows it's cheaper.

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

i love that place :) and hate shaw's. more expensive and the produce all looks wilted!

the meat is not as good at market basket, unfortunately. but decent. for meat, mckinnon's is good. it just stinks in there.

i agree below about havest- i don't really get the big deal about it. but most of what i buy is produce, so maybe it is ok for speciality products.

also wanted to mention boston organics, which is kinda cool if you're into that. organic box delivery.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I second McKinnon's for meat.

Boston Organics is good if you're happy leaving selection up to someone else (I'm happy with it because I'm too lazy to go food shopping regularly enough to get fresh produce).

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky that I work in-between trader joe's and whole foods in Cambridgeport, so much of my shopping is done between those places. Harvest Coop is great for bulk stuff (especially spices) and they have a brand of crackers I adore. Otherwise, they are overpriced and nothing too special. Shaw's fills in most of the gaps.

I also just moved about 30 feet from the Evergood Market on Mass Ave--it is surprisingly nice and has a selection that perfectly complements my needs.

There's also a little Japanese market in the porter exchange that comes in handy.

You could also do Foodmaster, which is generally the cheapest place to get food--just be wary of the produce :)

FINALLY, there is formaggios (gourmet foods) and another whole foods in the Fresh Pond area--a bit of a pain to get to without a car.

[one-skill.livejournal.com]

I live right close to Verna's as well.... stock up!

There's also a Whole Foods by Alewife stop. It's a lot easier to drive to, not sure if you have a car or not... but it's closer than one might think.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

It's also pretty easy to bike to (though unfortunately you need to use the sidewalk over the overpass unless you are way more psychotic than I am, and I've biked all kinds of wacky roads -- but the path takes you to the overpass from Davis, anyway).

[ron_newman]

A much better way to get to Whole Foods (or anywhere else in the Fresh Pond mall) by bike:

Chester Street to Mass. Ave.
Zig left and right onto Rindge Ave.
Left on Fairfield St.
Right on Pemberton St.
Left into new Yerxa Road ped/bike underpass.
Right on Walden Square Road.
Cross Sherman Street into Danehy Park.
Ride all the way through the park to the exit on New Street.
Right on New Street into shopping center parking lot.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

McKinnon's = amazingly cheap and pretty good meat. Don't be put off by the sketchy-looking-ness.

Dave's Fresh Pasta = just what it sounds like. Also, yum.

You can take the 77 to Trader Joe's in Arlington Heights easily.

I love food too! Food is great.

[sly-salkie.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I didn't know there was a trader joe's in arlington heights! That's good news-- I live on mass ave.

Do you happen to know where mckinnon's gets the meat? I actually just went there and stocked up, but it seemed too good to be true. The reason I like whole foods is because I have been trying not to eat sad, depressed, mistreated cows.. I would prefer that they die happy and healthy and grass-fed, backwards as that sounds.

Food really is great. Perfect, even.

Thank you, and everyone else too, for all the replies! Very helpful. Happy New Year.

[cutieperson]

i highly doubt McKinnon's is free-range, antibiotic-free or anything else specialty. but what do you want for the price?